- 1977
In
an inspired cataclysmic misfire "The enemy" is born
in Dunedin (New Zealand). Four fragile souls unite to form
the edgiest shit-ridden band the land has ever seen. Punk-Rock
(without punks) self-mutilation and great melodies. Doomed
to veils of myth + legend they scream + die.
- 1979
Only
to transform into "Toy Love" with the addition of
a couple of hippies from Christchurch. This band does the
best of The Enemy, writes some new stuff and (for the first
time) adds a few covers to the set. They become hugely successful,
record 3 singles, 1 L.P. , spend five months in Australia
(which doesn't really come to grips with the Toy Love attitude)
come back to N.Z. greatly disillusioned by the "music
industry" and, at the peak of their limited fame, break
up...
- 1981
Alec
Bathgate (GTR) + Chris Knox (vocals) both in Auckland begin
to noodle around on Knox's elderly teac 3340-5 4. Track reel
machine and discover "Tall Dwarfs". The result of
these fumblings + fartings are released on the (short-lived)
"Furtive" Label + heaps of Toy Love fans buy it
and say "What the fuck?!". Their popnoise heroes
have "gasp" changed! "Three songs" initially
confuses with its unadorned home-made clunkiness but becomes
a bit of a classic, specially thanks to the oddball ultra-low-tech
vid for nothing going to happen- blu-tacked
together by Knox.
- 1982
Bathgate
moves to Christchurch, thus making recording + live gigs difficult
but Knox packs up his 4-track + pops down to make Louis
likes his daily dip. A seven song E.P. that swerves
maniacally from noise to nonsense to tender beauty. Rec'd
at Paul's (Toy Love + Bats) + Jane's (Toy Love) houses during
the sessions for Flying Nun's "Seminal" Dunedin
double E.P., it is the duo's first record on Roger Shepherd's
lovely new label. It even gets a full colour cover + helps
listeners retreat from Toy Love-type expectations.
- 1983
Alec
commutes to Auckland to record Canned music -an
8- song E.P. which is perhaps their darkest effort to that
date. Turning brown + torn in two introduces
the tape loop rhythm track which will become a Tall Dwarf
trademark their live performance of this room is wrong
is included on F. Nun's Live at the rumba bar
L.P. T.D. gigs are rare + shambolic at this stage, halting,
half-formed events that have moments of translucent intensity
+ embarrassing tedium. All tends to be forgiven....
- 1984
Rec'd
in DougHood's bedroom, this 5-track E.P. is destined to become
the dubious duo's most popular buncha ditties so far. It throbs
with the brain that wouldn't die + pounds yer
fragmented defences with the massive crush.
This is much more "up" sounding than the last E.P.
+ rejoices in the name Slugbuckethairybread monster.
Around this time the gigs start getting more cohesive culminating
in a wondrous 2-nighter at Auckland's windsor castle things
are looking up!!
- 1985
...So
Alec decides to go live in the U.K.! Great!! in a panic the
Dwarfs prepare to record their swan songs on to a sprawling
thing called that's the short + long of it which
features a remake of nothing's going to happen
rec'd on 16-track by 22 rock + classical players + a coupla
out-takes + live bits + some new songs too-mostly rec'd at
this kind of punishment 's place in Auckland
some with Mike Dooley drumming. A working title for this sorta
summing-up disc was to be "a history of rock'n'roll"
which pretty much describes the album.
- 1986
Defeated
by the english winter, Alec returns, the world breathes a
sigh of relief, and the joyfully re-united Dwarfs record 9
brand new songs at Chris' place, Auckland central playcentre
and lab 16. track studios. Most of it was done while both
protagonists suffered very bad flu-like colds-thus the title
Throw a sickie. Despite some songs of tenderly
fragile beauty + some full-on "rockers" the E.P.
is problably their most ignored collection of musical marvels.
- 1987/1988
For
the first time there was annual release from Tall Dwarfs in'87.
But they haD rec'd Dogma at Christchurch's 16-track
night shift studios. Flying Nun was a bit of a mess at this
stage + the E.P. took a fair while to emerge. Everybody loved
The slide + hated Lurlene bayliss.
Mike Dooley supplied a couple of percussion loops + Paul Kean
played bass on "dog" thus making this record the
closest thing to a Toy Love reunion ever likely to rear its
ugly head. The six songs had more of a particular sound to
them than any previous collection leading some infortunates
to assume some sort a T.D. maturation process was beginning....
Hah!!
- 1989/90
Weeville
started life as a 4-song E.P. rec'd at a Christchurch 8-track
studio but it eventually grew in to the deranged duo's first
full-scale L.P. rec'd on Knox's newly acquired 8-track at
Jay Clarkson's place in Christchurch + Auckland. Some tracks
had been started on a borrowed 4-track so it was a lengthy
+ fragmentary process. It became Tall Dwarfs first C.D. release
+ for the first time the delightful Dwarf some let themselves
be seen on the front cover. Despite this is sold the odd copy
+ became the first Tall Dwarfs non-comp. L.P. to have a U.S.
release. The Dwarfs even left the relative safety of Aotearoa
to do a quick tour of Australia the first time they'd played
there together since millions of Australians had totally ignored
good ol' Toy Love a decade earlier.
- 1991
Coming
to terms with the need to release epic-length LP/CD/tape things
rather than their beloved 12" E.Ps T.Ds record 14 songs
on 8 track at Paul's place, Christchurch + Chirs' in Auckland.
A more coherent collection than Weeville it
goes thru a myriad of name changes before emerging as
Fork songs + ranges from delicate wisps of melodic
fragrance thru to nasty, bitter, angry noise . Four songs
are made into videofodder + all for a measly 5 grand.
- 1992/93
Which
they did-to land of milk & alimony-back to the motherland
of Roll'n'rock to discover their musical roots. The fabulous
U.S. tour an event from which that tragicomic hunk of human
heartbreak, the american hoi polloi, has yet to recover such
was the impact of two slightly overweight, underslept, middle-aged
sore thumbs within the deal-hungry weirdness that was C.M.J.'92!
Honestly, they were better than O.K. at worst & excorciatingly
life-changing at best. Any way, back home they set about recording
songs and other stuff for a new album, toured N.Z. with Pavement.
Tall Dwarfs
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